Review: Wet

Do you like gritty mobster flicks? Is a B-movie more like an A-movie to you? Wet is a game designed for you then. Ruby, the protagonist of Wet, is one of the most skilled guns for hire in the world and she has just been double-crossed. You will fight through various groups of petty thugs in an attempt to uncover the truth and of course, put a bullet between the eyes of the man who wronged you.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLj7pQA_R4Q

Everything about Wet is designed to placate to the B-movie fans. From the grainy film filter set over the game’s visuals to the intense rock soundtrack to the over-the-top one woman army action. Most of the game is spent diving, sliding or otherwise performing some sort of actions in slow motion while firing your guns at the various minions; and when that fails she uses her Samurai sword. Phenomenally voiced by Eliza Dusku, Ruby is the cliché badass, ass-kicking chick with big breast that these types of films are always filled with.

Unfortunately most of the good things to say about Wet begins and ends with the game’s style. While I loved the approach (and it is done impeccably), the game falters on most every other ground, not necessarily failing outright, just failing to provide anything overly thrilling.

Visually the game is nothing impressive. Being a couple of years old now, not much should be expected, but if not for the grainy film filter applied to it, it would be very disappointing. The level design is on about the same level. While essentially a platformer/third person shooter, there just isn’t much to the levels. Everything is fairly straightforward, linear to almost a fault. You spend plenty of time swinging on poles, running on walls, etc., all the normal stuff you expect from a platformer; and that’s the problem. Other than slowing down to fire on enemies there isn’t anything really new or interesting to it.

The slowing down while firing your guns would be enough, but it gets old very quickly. Every time you dive, slide, jump, whatever, while firing your guns the game slows everything down. Since Ruby is always duel-wielding, the game will automatically aim one of her guns and you can aim the other; allowing you to focus fire on one target or shoot two targets at the same time. Ruby is nearly invincible while in this mode but shots will quickly attract bullets when not (plus, it is nearly impossible to fire accurately when not in slow-mo). This of course means you spend about 99 percent of the game doing these slow-mo moves. This is the real issue; it is just so repetitive and boring after one or two levels.

Even when you enter “rage mode,” which is a stylish black silhouette on red period of gameplay that typically ends when you accomplish some goal (usually killing a bunch of people), the game still feels repetetive. Other than the game suddenly counting your chain of kills rather than having you build a combo, I’m not too sure what the point of it was. Furthermore, the art style, while looking cool at first, resulted in deaths from missed jumps or other issues navigating the environment on several occasions. Great concept, looks great, doesn’t play very well.

One feature of the game that would normally be a downside is a bit of a saving grace with Wet. The length. Wet is fairly short, maybe six hours at most (playing on hard does add some time since several of the rooms full of goons can be very difficult and require several attempts). Normally a game having such a short length would count against it, but in the case of Wet it is pretty much just the right length. Any longer and I would of honestly grown sick of it, any shorter and it would of felt too rushed. It strikes a balance, but just barely. At the very least, you won’t get too tired of it.

All in all Wet is a game that you play for the story and style. If you expect anything else from it you are going to be disappointed. While far from horrible, it isn’t exactly tons of fun to play, and it doesn’t look all that great either, but odds are you will enjoy playing through it to see what happens. If you like grindhouse style B-movies, the cheesy action flicks where all the main characters are just so “cool” they are almost the definition of the word, then you’ll enjoy the time spent with Wet. But do yourself a favor, just like the movies of the same style; find this one on the cheap.